The Flathead boys and Glacier girls each finished fourth place in a crowded field at the season-opening Kalispell Swim Invitational on Saturday at The Summit Medical Fitness Center.

The Flathead boys were fast at the top, winning six of the 11 individual events, but couldn’t match the depth of Great Falls, Great Falls C.M. Russell and Missoula Hellgate.

Two Braves won both of their events at the meet. Senior Jamie Bouda won the 50-yard freestyle in 21.09 seconds, more than three seconds faster than the field in the meet’s shortest event, and the 100 breaststroke in 59.22, six seconds faster than Whitefish’s Preston Ring.

“I’d like to go under 21 this year (in the 50 free),” Bouda said.

“Flathead, we want to win state. Our guys numbers are pretty low, but we’ve got a lot of power in our few numbers. We’re definitely going to try and podium, but to win would be awesome.”

Junior Jace Reed won the 100 butterfly in 55.48 and the 100 backstroke in 56.35, winning both by at least three seconds. The pair also teamed up to help the Braves win the 200 medley and freestyle relays.

“I don’t ever remember Flathead winning a relay, we were all pretty excited,” Bouda said. “We all went pretty fast there, we had a lot of people yelling for us. That was really cool. After the race, the atmosphere of everyone being pumped was cool. We maybe got a little excessive with our celebration, but we were really pumped.”

Glacier junior AJ Popp was one of just two girls to win two events at the meet. Popp won the 100 butterfly in 1:00.6, nearly five seconds faster than the rest of the field, and the 100 backstroke in 1:01.11, finishing with a two second cushion.

“I feel like I can still improve a bit more, but it was good for the first meet,” Popp said.

“I wanted to get back into the swing of things for the high school season.”

Hellgate’s Mari Aoki won the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke in convincing fashion.

The Sentinel girls edged Hellgate for the team title despite winning just two individual events, the Spartans filling out the scoring positions with depth. Hellgate won six of 11 events, including all three relays.

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